Plant43 interview – “Playing Tresor is a bit like guiding a huge ship.” | Juno Daily
UK electro wizard appointed new resident at Tresor
The news that Emile Facey aka Plant43 had been appointed one of the revered Tresor nightclub in Berlin’s new residents is proof that persistence pays off.
He’s no overnight success – he’s about to release his eighth album, Luminous Machines. Following his releases, year to year, you’ll see he’s carefully honed his sound, proving capable and more and more confident both in terms of dancefloor, 21st century electro, productions and more experiemntal, cinemactic excursions.
Luminous Machines is made up of eight dancefloor tracks and eight cinematic interludes, all of which are inspired by visits overseas to play live in 2023. We tracked down the man himself and demanded to know more.
Hello Emile, how are you today? Where are you as you type this? Having a good day? Been anywhere interesting and/or off anywhere interesting later?
Hi Ben, I’m good thank you. Hope you are too. I’m in my studio at home, it’s rainy and grey outside and I’m kind of missing the sunny, cold weather we had for a few weeks. I went to Paraorchestra: Drone Refractions at Southbank Centre on Friday. Described as ‘Part-sound bath, part-concert, part-installation’, it was a concert where the performers were positioned on small platforms all around the space and the audience were able to move freely around them to experience the instruments being played up close. It was quite a moving and intense experience, human voice, traditional instruments and drones played on Dave Smith Prophet synthesisers all blended together in the vast space.
Tell us about your first musical influences – the things you grew up listening to that others played, your first tastes and what persuaded you to start playing…
I grew up in a very musical family. My great grandfather was a professional clarinet player and came from a long line of clarinet players. I played recorder, then clarinet, piano and sang in the school and church choirs at a young age. The Beatles were the band I heard the most and were an obsession for my parents and their peers. There were lots of family get-togethers where they’d play all of Abbey Road, Revolver and The White Album, singing and playing along to every word and note. My grandparent’s on my mother’s side were really into ABBA and I remember my grandad playing lots of their records on vinyl. My parents were also really into early Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac and lots of classical music. Listing all of them makes me realise where my interest in tonality, melody and harmony came from. I started getting interested in electronic music around the age of 10.
The first time I remember hearing synths was as part of TV theme tunes. I used to watch some TV shows every week just to hear the music. Knight RIder and Street Hawk were my favourites, the latter of which used a track called ‘Le Parc’ by Tangerine Dream.
My parents took me to see Star Wars when it came out in 1977. I still remember seeing it and the impact John Williams’ music and sound design made on me. In 1984 my friend’s mum took us to see the movie Breakin’ and I heard ‘Tour De France’ by Kraftwerk for the first time. I’d heard Kraftwerk before and loved it but I was totally blown away when I saw Turbo’s broom dance. The arrival of the first wave of electro and breakdancing in the UK was just an amazing time really, I was totally hooked. About the same time I got my first home computer and started learning to programme music using a language called BASIC. My school’s music department bought lots of little Casio synths which you could record basic sequences on. I remember being really happy when it was raining too much for us to go outside because I could spend my whole lunch break in the music room. Around that time I persuaded my parents to buy me my first MIDI keyboard which weighed an absolute ton and I hooked that up to my Sinclair Spectrum to use it as a sound source.
What do you remember about your very first musical efforts?
When I was really young and learning to play instruments and singing I was performing other people’s music but once I got my computer I made my very first tune using programming. I also started learning to play melodies I’d heard on the TV and on cassettes I had on my keyboard. I actually still have a recording of that programmed track taken directly from the TV speaker. Being coded, it’s very mathematical! I used to love singing and sang solo soprano in my school choir. I also performed at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon a few times, twice in a huge multi-school choir and twice playing clarinet in the orchestra.
What about your relationship with dance music and specifically electro? What can you remember hearing that hooked you?
After first being blown away by Kraftwerk and getting into electro when I was in my early teens I started listening to lots of different types of music but dance and electronic were always there in the background. Early on the Street Sounds Electro compilations were really important for me as well as Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley’s – Jack Your Body and Harold Faltermeyer’s – Axel F. Over the next decade or so I got into hip hop, thrash and death metal, grindcore, techno and industrial among other things and went to lots of gigs and festivals. Early Drum & Bass was also a huge influence. I used to go to Metalheadz at the Blue Note and Movement at Bar Rumba most weeks in the mid 90’s. Underground Resistance, Warp and Tresor also played a huge part. I was a regular at the Lost techno parties from the mid to late 90s where I saw Jeff Mills, Robert Hood and Juan Atkins among many others.
What does the name Plant43 mean to you? It’s a very functional sounding name…
My higher education was all done at art collage where I studied and trained in illustration and graphic design. A lot of our training was in becoming a self-employed artist. I liked the idea of naming my studio, and that it could be a place where all sorts of ideas and things would come from, be they musical or art. So, Plant43 was the name I gave my studio. At first it was the name I used when I was working in the illustration field but as I started to produce my own DJ mixes and music it seemed logical to use the same name. Being a massive Kraftwerk fan there was also the connection with power plants or factories.
So, congratulations, you’ve just been appointed as a resident at Tresor. Describe the place for anyone who has never been there… What’s so special about it? Any plans for what you’re going to be doing? Do you DJ as well as play live?
Well obviously there’s a long and proud history to the club and the record label which I’ve been buying releases on since the mid 90’s. They’re rightly proud of what they’ve built and it’s a real privilege to be involved. I think what I like most is that it’s somewhere you can go and just be yourself, and that goes for the artists and the people who are there to have a musical experience. No cameras are allowed and it’s very dark and full of dry ice.
People put away their phones and as a result the environment they build at the club feels very accepting and non-judgemental. The incredible sound systems in both Tresor in the basement and the Globus stage upstairs, where I play, are also something to witness. I’ve never played on a system which has so much power but also very clear detail and presence. It’s very hard to describe but it fills the room with a sound kind of like a freight train covered in cotton wool, not too harsh but with immense power. The first time I played there I described it a bit like guiding a huge ship. The booth is all custom built from metal which makes everything feel super solid and it’s all built on the same level as the dancefloor which makes the whole experience more interactive.
When I’m playing I can see people’s reactions to the music and they can see what I’m doing up close which I think really adds to the experience for both parties. They’re also a very open minded crowd when it comes to music. The vast majority of what’s played in the basement is techno but they’ve utilised the Globus stage very cleverly to host a really wide range of other electronic music. The staff there are also amazing, I feel at home there now as they’re extremely welcoming and make the whole thing really fun. I do DJ as well as well but I enjoy being the live part of a roster usually stacked with great DJs.
So, you’ve said before that having a deadline – as in a forthcoming gig – usually gets you into gear creatively and writing new tracks. The tracks on your new album were ones created for specific shows…
Yes, it’s always really motivating for me knowing that a gig is coming up. I really enjoy playing new material. It’s a weird one, it’s not that I don’t like my old tracks but I always want to create something new that feels relevant to that moment in time. Maybe it’s something to do with electro being labelled as the music of the future? Having booked lots of people to play at our Bleep43 events over the years I’ve always enjoyed it when other artists play completely new sets, and maybe even surprise the audience a bit by going in directions they didn’t expect. I take a bit of influence from those artists too. Solar Luminosity and Haunting the Depths were both written right before Drift Festival in Nijmegen last year. That was a really great day where I got to play right before DJ Stingray who’s been my favourite DJ for many years now.
Why did you go for the title Luminous Machines?
The title is inspired by human interaction, empowerment and dependence on vehicles of all kinds to get about. I went into a lot more detail about how I wrote and recorded the album while I was in Berlin in the recent premiere of the track ‘Phosphorescent Headlights’.
You’ve come up with a novel way of splitting the ambient and more dancefloor orientated material up to keep everyone happy…
Haha, I hadn’t really thought about it like that before! My original idea was to put everything on the vinyl but then when I was playing out I saw quite a few DJs playing all vinyl sets and as quite a lot of the tracks were really designed to be played in that context I thought having all those short ambient tracks might just be quite difficult for DJs playing the records in a club. That’s when I came up with the idea of splitting it across the vinyl and digital versions.
Finally, what’s next for Plant43?
The Tresor residency is going to be a big part of this year, I think. One of the interesting things about playing at the same venue a few times is that you start to get a feel for the club, its sound system and what works there. Each time I can hone the set a bit more while trying out new things. And I plan to make sure I complete lots of the new tracks I write to play there and put them out on vinyl. I’ve got a home town gig coming up in June for Alien Communications in London at the Lion & Lamb. My first releases on vinyl came out in 2005 so it will be nice to think up some ways to celebrate the 20th anniversary in 2025!
Ben Willmott